This southern diploid (2n = 82) is largely restricted to acid swamps on the southeastern Coastal Plain, with no confirmed records from north of s. Ark to N.Car. (K). A sterile coll. that appears to be from WARR (MO) was made in the 1903 by S. Price but it is labelled just "Bowling Green, Ky." (where she lived); determination as ludociciana was confirmed by H. Wagner (Cranfill 1980). However it is possible that the coll. came from further south. The related taxa, D. celsa (W. Palmer) Small and D. cristata (L.) Gray, have also been reported from Ky. or nearby (RAB, FNA 2, Ch), but these are not verified and at least some reports are based on misidentifications (Cranfill 1980, M). D. celsa is an allopolyploid derived from ludoviciana and the more northern goldiana; it has been reported from all states around Ky., usually growing in somewhat base-rich soils. D. cristata is apparently an allopolyploid derived from ludoviciana and the extinct "semicristata"; it is largely northern but with scattered sites south to Ala. and N.C. (W). Records may be confused by horticultural plantings and escapes, including plants known as D. X australis (Wherry) Small, which are supposedly derived from celsa or a related hybrid (Werth et al. 1988).